GenDym awarded contract for Army's Stryker vehicles

U.S Army Stryker and Japan Ground Self-Defense Force battle tank Type 74 take part in the joint military exercise "Orient seld 16" at the Aibano Training Area in Takashima, Shiga prefecture, Japan on September 14, 2016. File photo by Keizo Mori/UPI | License Photo

Feb. 19 (UPI) -- General Dynamics has been awarded a contract to provide supply parts for the entire U.S. Army Stryker program.

The deal, announced Friday by the Department of Defense, is a modification to a previously-awarded contract and is valued at more than $148.9 million.

The Interim Armored Vehicle, or IAV Stryker, is an eight-wheeled, armored fighting vehicle used for ground combat.

The vehicles in recent years have been improved to protect against improved explosive devices and other attack methods with a shallow v-shaped hull and additional armor and blast-resistant features, some of which has been based on warfare in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Funding and exact work locations will be determined with each order received by U.S. Army Contracting Command, the Pentagon said. Work on the contract will be completed in February 2019.